New Apparel Merchandising & Design transfer students and change-of-majors are eligible to join.
Program description
The AMD Transitions Learning Community is designed to connect students to peers, faculty, and Iowa State University. With the primary goal of helping students adjust to their new major of Apparel Merchandising and Design, the learning community will provide opportunities to learn about their academic program, policies, and resources available. There is an emphasis on goal setting, leadership development, critical thinking and self-management.
Living Options
None
Signing up
Students will have an opportunity to register for this learning community during Transfer Orientation and class registration.
This learning community is for new Linguistics majors as well as any student who is interested in language and how it works, seeking especially students in World Languages and Cultures, International Studies, U.S. Latinx Studies, Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, and Open Option.
Program description
The Science of Language Learning Community is a non-residential learning community for students who are interested in languages, linguistics, and language science. The goals of SOL are to foster community among undergraduate linguists, develop critical thinking skills around language, broaden linguistic understanding of language as a science, and to help students become aware of possible future directions in these fields. As part of SOL, students will take three linked courses together: LING/WLC 119 Introduction to World Languages, ENGL 214 Introduction to Technical Communication, and LING 101 Introduction to the Study of Linguistics. SOL fulfills multiple LAS requirements including up to 6 credits towards Arts and Humanities requirements as well as International Perspectives.
Living Options
None
Signing up
New students will have an opportunity to register for this learning community during orientation and class registration. Transfers and Change of majors can sign up during fall class registration by contacting the coordinator.
All multicultural students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are eligible.
Program description
The FOCUS Learning Community is a multicultural peer mentorship program that is designed to support incoming students in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The program provides academic, social, and professional connections to aid in the successful transition to college. Students will participate in enriching activities that will help them develop a strong sense of community.
Benefits of FOCUS
Receive one-on-one guidance from a peer mentor
Successfully navigate your first-year experience
Increased opportunity for academic success
Attend fun monthly social events to build community and strong connections
Develop a strong network of peers to support you through your academic journey
Living Options
No residential options are affiliated with the program.
Signing up
Contact Audrey Kennis, kennis@iastate.edu, to learn more about the program and how to get involved.
"The best part of being in a learning community is the mentor/mentee connection that you can make and getting to know other students in the same boat as you." - College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student
All students in any major are eligible to join Leadership ISU.
Program description
Leadership ISU is a leadership focused Learning Community designed to help students develop capacity for practicing leadership on campus and preparing them to facilitate organizational and community-based change. This community is partnered with Campus Leadership Development (LD ST 270), a course designed for students who want to learn about exemplary leadership practices and engage in experiential campus leadership opportunities.
The Student Activities Center is a critical partner providing key connections for students in this learning community to lead the amazing possibilities for students at Iowa State. This learning community provides highly interactive experiences that create opportunities for students to be leaders on campus, shape change in their communities, and establish a professional network leading to success at Iowa State and after graduation.
Through LD ST 270 and the Student Activities Center, students will participate in dynamic lectures, engage in student-centered discussions, participate in large and small group activities, and identify opportunities to build community within the group as well as network with others on campus. Leadership Studies program faculty, Student Activities Center staff, and peer mentors ensure students feel supported in their academic growth and leadership development.
Leadership ISU and LD ST 270 are open to all students, though specifically geared toward first-year and new transfer students. All students enrolled in LD ST 270 will be a part of the Leadership ISU learning community.
Living Options
None
Signing up
All students who register for LD ST 270 be participating in the learning community.
”Students who join learning communities have a special opportunity to connect with classmates---form study groups, serve as sounding boards for one another, and even develop lasting friendships throughout their four years at ISU. Seeing the same familiar faces in two classes every week creates a comfort level many college first-years don't experience, and finding comfort in the classroom setting inevitably leads to smoother learning and more permanent retention of vital communication skills that translate to the workplace."
Majors eligible to join
Students of any major (including Open Option) who register for English 214 and English 250.
Program description
Students will learn about the background, practical application of, techniques of, and demand for technical writing and web design/usability in the U.S. and worldwide. Through written, oral, visual, and electronic communication skills, they will complete summaries and rhetorical analyses related to topics in technical communication. They will also delve into visual website design and rhetoric and learn to analyze and evaluate visuals both in terms of their messages and in their creation as TComm deliverables. Finally, they will master argumentation, acting as mediators in debates centered around technology, its use/misuse in the workplace, and its presentation in writing and multimedia. Because all students enrolled in this section of English 250 will also be taking the same section of English 214, this will encourage a sense of community and create shared learning opportunities. Within this single learning community, students can satisfy an Arts and Humanities requirement, an ISUComm Foundations requirement, and a US Diversity requirement! Students will also gain a greater understanding of technical communications as a field, potentially adding it as a major, second major, or minor. Tech Comm was recently rated the 14th best job in the U.S. by Career Cast and other sources, meaning that majors in English and related fields are becoming more and more lucrative as the demand for strong communicators rises!
Living Options
None
Signing up
Students will have the opportunity to register for this learning community during spring registration and June Orientation.
Any first-year majors who’ve met the qualifications for entry into English 250.
Program description
Writing Gender is a learning community open to students of any major (including Open Option) that links a section of WS 201 with a section of English 250. Students will learn about the contemporary status of women and gender diversity from social, economic, historical, political and literary perspectives. Through writing, oral and visual communication skills, they will analyze the intersection of gender, race, class, nationality and sexuality in the US and globally. Because all students enrolled in the section of English 250 will also be taking the same section of WS 201, this will foster an additional sense of community and collaborative learning experiences. Within this one learning community, students can satisfy an Arts and Humanities requirement, an ISU Comm requirement and a US Diversity requirement. Students will also gain more insight into the nature of a major or second major in WS.
Living Options
None
Signing up
Sign up will take place during Orientation. Please ask your adviser for details.
Incoming students majoring in Physics and Astronomy.
Program description
Studying physics is both exciting and intellectually challenging. The Physics and Astronomy Department is at the forefront of figuring out how the universe works, with faculty and students engaged in revealing the core mechanisms of biological systems, to the understanding the most explosive events in the life and death of stars. Our goals for physics undergraduates is that they develop a firm understanding of physics through their course-work, student research, field trips, and meeting with visiting scientists. To ensure students are welcomed into the department’s intellectual life, we have created a Physics + Astronomy Learning Community. The Learning Community is a place where beginning students can discuss physics, both current research topics as well as their coursework, interact socially with faculty, partner with peer mentors who can lend advice, and form strong bonds of friendship with like-minded physics students on field trips to regional national labs. The Learning Community is centered around Phys 199 “An Introduction to Physics” and members of the LC will be in the same section of their calculus course so they can build strong connections between their mathematical skills and physics.
“The learning community not only provided me with a family, but also gave me the courage to talk to professors more and to branch out more with the different subjects of mathematics,” Kelsey Christensen
Majors eligible to join
Mathematics, Statistics
Program description
Mathematics and Statistics Learning Community members will work to build community by taking classes together, forming study partnerships, and getting to know one another via supplemental activities.
This learning community will provide supplementary activities outside class aimed at easing the transition to campus, exploring campus resources, investigating major-related organizations, interacting with university faculty and staff members as well as opportunities to meet professionals visiting from other mathematics and statistics institutions and organizations.
As the group matures, students may further develop their professional skills by organizing events for their peers to attend or by engaging in service projects.
Members will experience educational, professional, service-related, and social benefits.
Living Options
Non-residential
Signing up
First year students who have declared their primary major as statistics or mathematics will automatically be signed up in the learning community. Transfer students in mathematics and statistics and first semester freshmen in LAS open option may sign up for the learning community during orientation.
The History Learning Community for new History majors will impart the skills required to excel in the History major and help our new historians get to know the department, ISU, and Ames. The History LC runs together with History 195, and helps to impart the skills necessary for success in the major while simultaneously creating a cohort of new students with similar experiences. Activities include an historical scavenger hunt, a field trip, a poster contest, and a final project where students become historical detectives.
Students participating in the Earth, Wind and Fire learning community will have the opportunity to develop stronger connections with fellow students and the faculty and staff in the Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences. The main goal of the Earth, Wind and Fire learning community is to build a community of students and faculty and to increase students’ retention to and recruitment into the programs by providing strong interaction with faculty, upperclassmen (peer mentors), study sessions and supplemental instruction. Students will be required to take the two orientation courses MTEOR/GEOL 112 and 113 that will provide the environment for the community-building activities.
We look forward to welcoming you to Iowa State University.
Living options
None
Signing up
Freshmen/first semester students in the LAS Open Option may sign up for the learning community during their summer orientation. Students who have declared their major as meteorology, geology, or Earth science will automatically be signed up for the learning community.
